Mrs. Appleby smiled over this effusion, which was carefully written on heavily ruled paper. The handwriting was stiff and official--had not Pippin learned to write in the office of the Warden, under the eye of that kindly potentate?--the spelling occasionally quaint, but she seemed well pleased as she laid it away methodically. "I am sure that boy is genuine!" she said with a little nod. "I would trust him--what is it, Jane?" A pupil-teacher was standing before her, red-cheeked, round-eyed, and out of breath. "Jimmy 'as run away again, Mam!" "Jimmy! dear! dear! Played hookey from school, you mean?" "Yes, Mam! I 'ad 'im be the 'and"--Jane was but one remove from London--"and we was steppin' along quite-like, wen 'e 'eard a horgan, and 'e was horf!" "Dear! dear!" said Mrs. Appleby again. "That is the third time; I will notify the police at once." Stepping to the telephone, she gave notice of the truant, "Ten years old, small and wiry, red hair and freckles; khaki pants, gray flannel shirt; will probably answer to any name except his own, which is James Mather. Do have him found, Mr. Inspector! He isn't a bad boy, and he is sure to have the nightmare to-night." Turning back, she spoke to Mrs. Faulkner who was just entering the room. "Jimmy Mather has run away _again_, Mrs. Faulkner! I really don't know what to do with the boy." "I should send him to the Farm School!" said Mrs. Faulkner promptly. "He is a very bad influence here. Last evening, when the cook was going to church, he pinned a dishcloth to her cloak, and she never found it out till she got back. She has given notice. I was just coming to tell you. I think she will stay if the boy is sent away." "Little Jim!" cried Mrs. Appleby. "Oh, Mrs. Faulkner! He is too young for the Farm School, even if--" "Mary is a very valuable woman!" said Mrs. Faulkner severely. "It is matter of knowledge to me that she has been offered fifteen dollars a week, and we get her for ten because of her little niece being here. James Mather is worth nothing at all that I can see, and is a nuisance besides." "Oh, Mrs. Faulkner!" said Mrs. Appleby again. As she stood perplexed, what was this vision that flashed suddenly before her eyes? Two brown, bright eyes in a face that seemed to smile all over, brow to chin; a musical voice saying, "There's a kid I like! I could do something with that kid if I had him!" "Dear! dear!" said Mrs. Appleby aloud. "I do wish he would!" and happening to glance out of the window, she saw Pippin entering the courtyard with Jimmy Mather beside him. Yes, things happen that way sometimes. Mrs. Appleby did not try to analyze her feeling of relief when Mrs. Faulkner was called out of the room just as Pippin entered it.